Note-sheet-centering mechanism for player-pianos.



E'.A D.v MO0R,E & S. L. FISHER.

CENTERING MEc'HAmsm foal-PLAYER PIANos.'

4'MliLlclmorl r'nsu'fiuni 29. 191m Patented 00u 1.6, 1917-.I

NOTE SHEET E. n. Moomi & s. L.`F|vsHER. NOTE SHEET CENTERING MECHAN'ISM FOR PLAYER PIANS.l

APPLICATION FILEDIUIIE'ZS. 1916'.

1,241,3,33CL l Patented 0015.16, 1917.

l 2 SHEETS-susana.

A TTORNE y 'bottoms of these sockets..

sTATEs r-ATENT OFFICE.

: ERNST D. .MOORE AND STANLEY nrisnnn, orl sAYimooK,I coNNncTIcU-T, AssIGNons To THE PRATT nnAnrLAYnn ACTION COMPANY, or DEEP nrvnn, coNNEcTrcUT;

A. CORPOI'EATION 0F CONNECTICUT.

ginal application tiled February 5, Vi916, Serial No. 76,387. Divided and this'application leil 19,16. Serial No.106,673.

To 'allwho-mz'vmay concer-:L

Be 1t known that we, 'ERNST D. Moomna .citizen of the 'United States, and STANLEY nism for PlayerPianos, of which the fol- {i'blowing is a full, clear, and exact description.. 'This invention vrela-,tes to note sheet centering mechanism for" player p1an.os and krmore"pa'rtict'ilarly to mechanism for center- Filing '.the music roll with respect to the tracker bar.

.':Oneofthe lprimary .objects of the invento furnish simple, conveniently actuated-neans for centering the music roll au- "'tomatica-lly W'hen it is placed between its supporting-spindles in the spool box so that the perforations of the note sheet will be in line with .the .corresponding tracker open- 4 ings. More particularly it is aimed to provide supporting and centering mechanism for the musicroll, which is equally effective with ,various makes of rnlls, and which will center ,the roll relatively to the tracker bar `irrespective of the depth of the sockets in the roll heads'and the distance'betvveen the Our improved centering mechanism will lalso be effective vith rolls of different `:overall length, and consequently" by :our invention the ran e of utility ofthe piano player is very muc in- 4creased. r

l Another objectof the inventlon 1s to pro-V :vide a note sheet centering mechanism of the kind indicated in' `which n.0 adjustment is necessary to adapt the mechanism to different kinds orsizes ofrolls.

-In' the centering of; music rolls .relatively to' theytra'ckerr bar, the dept-h of thev sockets 'in the roll'l heads hasheretofore been a very important factor. The music roll spindles iusually. bottom in these sockets, and hence the s indles Vwill notproperly center *a roll -in w ich the sockets do not have the required dimensions and the required relation --to the mqsic roll. as a whole It 1s a rather -diicult matter to form the sockets with the required accuracy, so tha-t' in rolls of the same-,make there is often Vsullicient inaccu-v Specication of Letters Patent.

manner.

posit-ion by screws'lQ, as shown, or, in some,4

Patented Oct. 16,l 1917.

.Tune-$9,

racy to prevent proper' centering; but, in any case, 1f the piano player ,is adapted to rolls of one make, it may not be' adapted to rolls of another pattern, Our invention is based on the centering of the rolls relativeliy to the tracker bar by means of the overal length of the former.

`We have discovered that owing to the fact that practically all of the music rolls found on the market have symmetrically formed heads, and as the outer faces of these heads either lie at equal distances from the center of the note sheet or can be made 'to do so (Where there is a movable heatl or end flange), it' is possible to center rolls of diiferent types in a self-playing piano by position# linghsuch-rolls by means of their end faces rat er-than by spindles which engage the bottoms of the sockets. By usingv thissys'- tem, the mechanism may be very simple,

both .in manufacture and in use, and many different kinds of rolls can be used very euc- -cessfully in the same piano player.

To these yand other ends, the fnvention consists in -thenovel features and combinations of parts to` be hereinafter-'described and claimed. 4

In the accompanyin n r Wing, i Figure 1 is a front e evation of note sheet centering mechanism embodying our invention, showing the music .roll in the playing position;

Fig. 2 is a rear eleva-tion of the arts shown in Fig. l, showin the roll-ho ding levers in the position xv ich they assume when the roll is removed;

Fig.` 3 is atop plan view of shown in. Figs. 1 and 2; and

Figs. 4 and 5 are Vdetail views of the music roll spindles.

In the embodiment shown, the spool box :.10 is of the usual type 'and supportsthe customary tracker bar 11 in the ordinary The tracker' bar may be fixed in cases, may be SOY-,mounted as. to permit lengthwise'adjustment, The music roll 13 carrying the note sheet 14 is mounted above the tracker bar in the lcustomary location by means of spindles 15, 16. We-huve not considered it necessar to illustrate the-usualtake-up spool which 1s located in the customary manner beneath the tracker bar. The.

. s?, of suitable connections spindle 15 is in the nature of an enlar ed hub on a stem 15",- said spindle or hub e- .ing located atthe inner face of the box wall and guided for lengthwise movement in a bushing 20 in 'said Wall, as shown at Fi 4. At its inner end, the spindle 15 is provlded with a laterally projecting flange or collar 21 having a 'vertical facedisp'osed toward the-adjacent music roll head 13". Projecting inwardly from the collar 21 is a centering projection or boss 22 with an inclined periphery adapted to enter a corre'spondingly'v shaped but larger recess` 231 in the roll head 13a. The arrangement is such that 'while the vertical inner surface on the collar 21 makes contact' Withgtlie'end face of the roll head 13, the boss 22 isof such size and shape as not to bottom in the recess or socket 23. The spindle-,1716r is generally similarto the 2O spindle 15, being mounted on a stem 16 and guided for endwise movement in a bushing 24 of the box wall. N ear-the inner end of the spindle isa collar 25 similar to the-collar 21 and having a vertical face to contact 'with 25 the end surface of the rollfhiad 13". Projectin'g`from the inner end of the spindle 16 is the `usual driving lip or tenon 26 adapt* a ed to pro]ect into a diametrical groove 27 'in the bottom of the socket 27 inthe roll 30 head 13", but the arran ement is' suchthat while the' i nner face of t e collar 25fengages the end face of the roll head 13b, the lip 26 and the adjacent spindle end do not bottom in thesoclget 27. Thus`it will be understood that whentlie musicoll is inserted between the spindles 15, 16, said s indles will contact only with the end sur aces of the corre spending heads of the music rolls. The col- A, lars 21, 25 prevent the 'spindles from en ag-` 40 ing the bottoms of the respective soc ets, which'is the feature of advantage that is H more particularlylxplained hereinafter. A

-lmurled collar 28""on the' spindle 16 iacilis tatesthe turning of said spindle by hand so 'as toengage the 1i 26 non-rotatively with the groove27 of t e socket 27 inthe usual` manner so that the roll may rotation ofthe spindle 16.

' The stem or shaft li'driven by means vv an .appropriate motor (not shown),l which motor is also operatively connected" with the shaft orv spindle of the take-up roll so as todrive the be driven by the engages the bottom surface ofthis groove. However, vhile our invention is especially intended to be' carried out with this general style of music' roll, We do not limit ourselves to such style of roll in allaspects of the invention. E v

AThe collars 21, 25 of the 4respective roll `supporting spindles are yieldingly held in Contact wlth vthe respective roll heads by mechanism which may be constructed substantially as follows: On the stem or shaft :mounted two spaced collars 29, 30, which 1 5? at a point outside of the spool box are may be secured on the shaft by means of screws, as shown. Collars 31, 32 are mounted on the shaft 16a in a similar manner. The collars 29, 31 nearest the spool box are adapted to abut against the respective side ,walls of the box so as to limit the inward movement of the respective spindles, and these collars are so adjusted that when they contact with the respective walls of the box or other suitable abutments, the collars or shoulders 21, 25 are equidistant from the center of the spool bemand are slightly nearer to each other than are the outer surfaces of the-music roll heads. In. other words, said collars are spaced apart at a distance which is less than the maximum length of the music roll. Between the collars 29, 30, a bar 33 engages the shaft lfby means of an inturned 'endportion 34 which adapted to'abut the collar 29l in forder to move the shaft toward the music rolland't abut the collar 30 in order to move the shaft away from the music roll. A similar bar 3o, y\has an inturned endy portion 36 embracing the shaft 16 between the collars 31, 32. The

bars 33, 35 are pivoted at 37, 38 respectively to a lever 39 which is swiveled to the back of the box at 40. The swivel mounting'40 of lever 39 is centrally located between the pivots 37, 38 so as to equalize the movement of the two spindles 15, 16 and insure their having a symmetrical. relation to la predetermined center line at,v all times.

In the form shown, the'spindles are normally held in their innermost position by' means of a spring .41 attached 'to the music box' at 42 and to the lever 39 at'43.. When iis the spindles 15, 16 are moved away from the music rollto free the latter, and tll'envla;-

leased, the spring 41'returns the parts to the normal position in anv obvious manner sothat the spindles are at the vlimit of their inward movement with the collars 29,31 in abutment with'thesides of the box; When a 'new music roll is to. be inserted; the spindlesare moved away from each other, for example, by grasping thknurl collar 28 on spindle 16, and when thee ars 21, 25 of the respective vspindles lare"engez.ged with the. end tacos of the' roll heads in the manner previously described, it will-be found that the note sheet is centered with respect A the extreme end faces of t e roll because spaced apart at a vsuilicie'nt distance to rthe heads or flangesof' the roll are of substanti ally equal thickness and symmetrically formed, One of the most important features of our invention; however, is the positioning of the roll vlongitudinally of the tracker ar .by the overall length of the roll independently of the sockets. in the heads or flanges and the.l projections on the spindles -which enter said sockets to su' port the roll, the arrangement being such t at a roll ofthe kind ordinarily used in eighty-eight note players may be centered in a very simple, effective manner without neessitatinv any change in the roll construction It w be understood, therefore that the roll centering device just described can be used to center music rolls of many different makes without regard to the depth of the sockets in the roll heads so long as such sockets have 'the usual minimum depth. This is effected by making the socket-engaging projections on the 'spindles so shallow that they will not engage the bottoms of the socketsof .any o f the, standard music rolls.

If, afterassemblin it is found thatthe spindles do not have epropersyrnmetrical relation to a predetermined center, the neces# 'sary correctioncan be effected by shiftin the shaft collars' in an obvious manner. The collars on eachv shaft should obviously mit the necessa swinging. movemen` of the bars 33, 35. Y the centerwith respect vto which theollars 21 25 are. sym# metrical is in 'a vertical fpl through thej center oftheitracker bar scale,

e'. e., the serieso perforations in the tracker bar corresponding to the number of notes ofthe piano V Wh1` :h. areto. be pmayed, but naturally if the tracker bar is to; 4ad1u'sted -out of its normalposition, say for the purpose of transposing the ykey,'the music roll willbe lon itudinally. displaced with respect' to thetrac er bar..

It lwill be obvious that .with' the construe* tion described, the ollar 21 and proJection 22 may be mountedio turn relatively to the 4main part-ofthe s indle 15if.

-The foregoing escription 1 s necessarily a detailed -one in iso far as 'it concerns the .particular embodiment selected forillustration, butobviously we do not limit ourselves ane passing.

' movement, as herein explained.

to the precise construction shown, as various changes or modifications may be adopted within the scope of our invention. l

In some cases, it might be possible to provide the spindles with yieldlng 'tips which are pressed lightly into engagement with the bottoms of the sockets in theroll heads by springs or the like, and this would not be a departure from the broad principles of our invention, even if the spindles did bottom in the sockets in this manner, because the characteristic results of the invention would still be obtained.

WVe have used the `term centering -in a broad sense as indicating the positioning of the music roll longitudinally with respect to the.tracker bar in such a manner that the note sheet will be centered relatively to a given imaginary center line, which may or may not pass through the center of the tracker bar, for the tracker bar may be offset relatively to such center line in transposing, as above suggested. As our lnvention is based more partlcularlyon the positioning of the roll by its overall length independ-` ently of the driving lip or tenon on one spindle and the su porting projection on the other spindle, t e equidistant location of the note sheet center. with respect to the extremes of the overall length of the roll is' not material in the broadest aspects of the that-such' distances bear acertain unequal ratio to'eaohl other, itis merely necessary thatsiich ratio bie maintained -in the other rolls which Vitis desired. t0 .Play 0n the instriunent, although if the `sheet center is not equidistant fromthe end faces of the roll, the spindles will obviousl have to have a` .diierential movement. ovvever, the anges of a music roll are usually ofequal thickness. as above stated, so that this ratio is one to one, andthe spindles have an equal Our improved roll centering mechanism may be used to advantage'in connection with the sheet winding mechanism disclosed -in our application Serial No. 7 6,387 filed February 5,1916, of which the vpresent app-li` cation is a division, but it is obviously not limited to such use,

What we claim is z.-

1. I'na device for alining tracker bar note openings with the note sheet' pdrforations of a music sheet on any of a series of music rolls each having the respective heads lof los substantially equal thickness and sockets in 'said heads, the combination of a tracker-bar.

adapted to engage surfaces at the extremities of the roll noncoincident with the sockets, and parts on said spindles adapted to enter the roll sockets, said roll-positioning parts contacting with the cooperating surfaces of the roll to position the roll longitudinally with respect to the tracker bar by engagement -with the aforesaid roll surfaces independentlyl of said sockets and the spindle parts entering the same; substantially as described.

openings with the note'sheet perforations of a' music sheet on any of a series of music rolls having shallow sockets inthe heads thereof and a groove in the bottom of one of said sockets, the combination of aitracker bar',l spindles for supporting the music roll having shoulders adapted to engage the ends of the music roll outside of said sockets to position the roll longitudinally by contact therewith, one of said-'spindles having a ten'on adapted to engage said groove for driving'the roll, and meansfor maintaining the shoulders on said spindles at equal distancesgfrom the same point when different rolls are employed; substantially as described.

3'. The combination with a tracker bar, of .a music roll having end sockets, and -supporting spindles for said roll having pro- -jections Aentering the respective sockets, one of said projections in driving engagement with its corresponding socket, means on said spindleslocated at and engaging the: respective extremes of the overall range o f theroll for positioning the roll 1ongitudinally' with respect tothe trackerb'ar independently of said A'projections Aand said sockets; and means for pressing the spindles against the outer faces of the roll heads; substantially as described.

.4. The combination with a music roll having `heads and shallow, sockets, in the outer faces of said. heads, of a spindle having a jdriving projection engaging one of said sockets but spaced from the bottom thereof, .'a. second spindle having a projection engaging the other socket but spaced fromthe bot- .toni thereof,-shoulde rs on said spindles bearing a ainst the outer faces of the roll. heads aroun the vsockets for positioning the .roll longitudinally independently' of. said p rojections and-said. sockets, means connecting said spindles whereby they move equally in opposite directions, and means for exerting -pressure on said spindles to hold them against the roll heads; substantially as described.l

- 5. In a device for aliiiing the note :perforationsof a music s heet with tracker bar note openings, 'with any of a series ofv music rolls havingheads ofv substantially equal ithickness and note. sheets whose 'longitudinal median lines are. substantially eqmdistant from the outer faces of the roll heads, said rolls also having shallow sockets therein and bearing surfaces around said sockets at the extremes of the overall length of said rolls, the combination of longitudinally movable supporting spindles having roll-positioning surfaces for contacting with said bearing surfaces, and projections on the respective spindles constructed and adapted to enter the respective socketsbut to clear the b ottoms thereof, one of said projections adapted to have driving engagement with the roll.-

Within its corresponding socket, and .means able supporting' spindles for said roll hav-V ing sup orting means to engage the respective soc ets, one' of said spindles 'having a part in driving'engagement with said diametrical' groove, means on said spindlesfor engaging the. end faces of the-'roll to position theroll longitudinally relatively to the tracker bar by means of said end faces, in'- dependently of said sockets and the supporting means engaging the same,-a'nd means for vmaintaining the surfaces' on said spindles',

which position the roll -longitudinally, at

equal distances from an imaginary center.

line; substantially as. described.

7;" The combination Wi-hamusic roll having sockets in the heads "thereof with annui lar bearing' surfaces around said socketsat the ends 4of the roll, one.`of said sockets provided in thebottom thereof with a diametrical. groove, lsaid heads being of substantially equal thickness, and the note sheet center being substantially equidistant from the outer' 'faces of the roll heads, of a. tracker..

bar, spindles 'having supporting means entering'said Sockets but clear of the bottoms thereof, oneV of'said spindles having a part engaging said diametrical 'groove 'but clear of the bottom thereof, and shoulders on the respective 'spindles engagingthe aforesaid annular bearing surfaces around 'the sockets' for' centerin 'the roll relatively'to-a given center line y -means of said. surfaces and independently'of said" sockets; substantially 8. Ina device for positioning musicrolls of differentlengths relative1y to the tracker b`ar, of a self-'playing piano,.th`e combination with a tracker b ar, and a music roll, of long: ,'ituflinally movable 'spindles havingz rollpositioning means engaging the roll at the ext-remes'of its overall length, and means for causing said s indles to assume a symmetricai'lielation W1 h .respect to an intermediate poitfothetracker bar when rolls of dif- -frent'lengths'jare supported thereby; substantially as described.

a. device for automatically positioningjijelatively to thetracker bar oi a musical instrument an'. 4of s. series of music rolls whereinythe. istance from the note sheet 'center Ito"ne of the extremes of the roll length isfeqial'to the distance from the note Sheet centerito'th'eother. extreme of the roll length; the-combination of 'a tracker bar, asnusic r'oll having the respective heads of substantially equalthickness with shallow sockets therein, oneof said sockets havin"` a dimetrical' groove in the bottom thereo lo 'tudin'ally movable spindles engagmg sailglsockets to supportl the roll, one of said spindles *havinga hpJoengagesairLgroove but clear of the bottom thereof, both of said spindles clear of the bottoms of the respect1ve sockets, roll-positioning portions on said sockets engaging the end faces of the roll adjacent the rims of said sockets at the res ective extremes of the roll lengthto positlon the roll longitudinally relatively to the tracker bar independently of said sockets, and the socket-engaging portions of the Spindles, lwhereby the note sheet perforatlons may be caused to register with those of the tracker bai", and means for causing the rollpositioning portions of said spindles to mains tain a symmetrical relation to a predetermined intermediate point when rolls of different length are supported by said spindles; substantially as described.

ln witness whereof, we have hereunto set our hands on the 27th day of June, 1916.

ERNST D. MOORE, STANLEY L. FISHER.

Cir 

